Fanfest 2010, Astros vs Blue Jays

Here there blog of mine! It's been a while hasn't it? I need to consider what to do in the off season.

Anyways, I got up early this morning to hit up the ballpark for Fanfest 2010. Now since I wasn't going for Bagwell's autograph, I didn't get up nearly as early as last year and I wasn't stranded at the park all morning through afternoon. My brother was kind enough to drive me back and forth for everything.
So who did I get?


Shelton signing my sketchbook. Honestly I don't know this kid at all but the lady in line ahead of me said he had a good spring so maybe he'll be a decent addition to the team.
"Anywhere?" "Yea, anywhere." It's not like there was anything he could obstruct.


Manzella signing the cover as well. Now him I do know from various spring training games and a couple of games in the majors last year. I always want to call him Mozerella.


Humberto Quintero who I'm actually rather fond of. He always seems happy and the poor guy gets beat up a lot but that's sort of what he gets for being a catcher. He's short and stocky and I dunno... adorable. <3
So here he's signing a little sketch I had of him. I felt bad I hadn't taken the time to dig through my backlogs of sketches in my folder here at home to find a better one of him. Oh well. I've got his autograph elsewhere too.


Now here's where we had fun. FINALLY I get Berkman to sign the BLT+P poster that's two years old now. I told him...
"Sign by yourself please." "By me? Okay." And then I, the usher, AND Quintero stare at him as he signs over Tejada (after I had even pointed to him when I set it down). And I'm like "Um, that's Tejada!" "That's Tejada?!" "Yea, you're on top." And Quintero laughs at him, "You just automatically assume she put you on the bottom of the stack?" Poor Berk seemed embarrassed and he stared at it a moment as if trying to decide if he should resign it or put an arrow or something. Oh well. It's signed either way and I got a funny story out of it to boot. <3


Astros vs Blue Jays - 04/03/10
On this page: Bourn, Pence, Quintero, Norris
The game itself was awful. But I did get some sketching in during it.

Monday is opening day so let's hope they do better. See you guys there and welcome home boys!

Best Birthday Ever

That's right guys! Today marks my 24th birthday and boy what a birthday it was! Not only did I have awesome cupcakes and a deliciously big lunch, but I also got a GREAT game!


Astros vs Phillies - 09/05/09
On this page: Berkman, Bourn, Pence, and Valverde
I don't think I've ever actually drawn Valverde before! I especially wanted to get a bit of his ritualistic pitching style. Does he have OCD or is that just a pitcher thing? lol
And it's true. Brad Lidge is our favorite "Close-er" ever. Mom and I shall never complain about how close the Astros relief like to make the games ever again.

Meanwhile, the greatest gift I could ever get (and had been waiting for since Spring Training!)...


And all it took was a poster telling him it was my birthday and all I wanted was a photo with him (and for the Astros to win of course!)
It could stand to be a clearer photo but who's going to complain when they finally get what they want?!

Thanks to all the fans who saw my poster and wished me a happy birthday and to the guys working at the creamery near Hunter's Lodge for being friendly and a blast! Not to mention flattering (sort of?) by thinking I was 17 lol

And to help celebrate, here's a shot after the winning RBIs by Kaz...

FYI; I can't turn my hat into a rally-cap. All the pins on it make it impossible. Doh!

Next game should be the last home game of the season though I wouldn't mind going to Sept 12's and getting the Valverde bobblehead. But I doubt I'll be able to make it.

Spring Training Extravaganza!

Wow what a blast! My mother, aunt, and I attended 8 games over the course of the week and I've got a lot to show for it!

Before we left, I drew up Oswalt to celebrate Pitchers & Catchers day...

I have to make a point to print this one out in case I happen across Roy O during the regular season.

The first Friday of Spring Training we went to Fort Lauderdale Stadium to see the Washington Nationals play the Baltimore Orioles.

Washington Nationals @ Baltimore Orioles - Spring Training 03/06/09
On this page: Scott, Pauley
It'd been so long since I'd been able to sketch like this and it was fun. I'm particularly fond of Casto's sketch. I need to be challenging myself with more of the action shots as you can only draw batting stances so many times before getting too comfortable with it.

I took note that Ty was now with the Orioles...


And got a great shot of Luke up close!


Saturday we went to see the Orioles yet again, this time at the Roger Dean stadium against the Florida Marlins.

Baltimore Orioles @ Florida Marlins - Spring Training 3/07/09
On this page: All Marlins
I'm not entirely sure why I didn't draw a whole lot at this game. Possibly because I'd just drawn the Orioles the day before, so all I did was a few Marlins.


Hey look! It's a school of fish! lol

We didn't take in another game until Monday when we went to Tradition Field to see the New York Mets host... uh... the Baltimore Orioles. If you didn't know better you'd have thought we were following the O's around but it just turned out they were playing at the first three games we decided to go see.


Baltimore Orioles @ New York Mets - Spring Training 03/09/09
On this page: Freel
I took in some stretching sketches which were fun. Again, I'm somewhat trying to draw stuff I haven't drawn so much. A lot more goes on than batting. However it was particularly hot and sunny that day so I spent a good deal of time hiding in the shade without my sketchbook in hand.

That night we went out to the Space Coast Stadium to see the Washington Nationals host none other than the good guys, the Houston Astros! :D

Houston Astros @ Washington Nationals - Spring Training 03/09/09
On this page: Blum, Quintero
Paulino's pitching was awful this day. I hope that he can warm up and do better during regular season. However Quintero and Pence seemed to make up for it with some runs and awesome hits. This was also my last set of sketching for the week. I puttered out quickly and ended up spending the rest of the games just watching and/or getting all manners of autographs.

Tuesday we drove out to Kissimmee to see the 'Stros host the Atlanta Braves. I managed to get many many many autographs on my blank sheet I had started towards the end of last season.
This was it at the end of the '08 season...


And this is it after only two games at the Osceola County stadium...

Brocail was particularly friendly and chatty. He talked to us about the heat and about his arm and eventually after he changed he came back out and chatted with fans some more. In fact, I rather miss him now.
Blum was also very sweet and knelt down to get on the same level as a very little girl next to me while signing her autograph book.
At one point Tuesday, Matsui came out and signed for fans including a pair of Japanese girls, one of which was celebrating her birthday. He told her happy birthday and shortly afterwards he handed over one of his batting gloves to her!

Pence stayed in for the whole game however so I had to wait until the very end to get his autograph yet again. You can never have too many right?

I've had a pair of Astros rubber ducks for about 5 or 6 years now. Originally I had intended to have one signed by Bagwell and the other signed by pretty much anyone. Well since then I've become fond enough of Pence to decide that he was the one who deserved my second duck (the first one is still unsigned but is still held specifically for Bagwell should I ever find him somewhere). Pence gave me a bit of an odd look when I handed the duck over and I suppose I should've explained that my nickname is Duckie so these rubber ducks are perfect for me. But he simply obliged and signed it as you can see.

At the same time, I had a couple of prints of the "sock fiasco" comics I drew last season:
http://astros-artfielder.blogspot.com/2008/08/theyre-like-racing-stripes.html
http://astros-artfielder.blogspot.com/2008/08/no-really-they-make-you-fast.html

I asked if he'd like to have them and sure enough he accepted them and stepped back to read them. I clarified that I drew them after he nearly ran over Mark and Brad at home plate in a couple of games last season and he laughed and thanked me for them. I was excited and shaking so I was too preoccupied to notice just how much he might've liked them as other fans told me that he seemed to really really enjoy them. And truly that's better than anything I could ever get from any player.

At Friday's game, my buddy Nick joined me and helped cheer me on in getting Carlos Lee to finally sign my BLT+P poster!

So here it is with Pence, Tejada, and Lee's autographs! I'm thinking I'll go ahead and retire it even without Berkman's autograph. He's proving difficult to get and all the rolling and unrolling I've done of the poster is taking a toll on it. Plus I'm ready to move on to a new poster for the new season. Perhaps a "Kaz-manian Devil" one as Nick suggested.

At one point Friday, Wandy Rodriguez was walking by. I waved and said "hi!" rather than trying to get him to sign anything since I'd gotten his autograph Tuesday. Surprisingly he tossed me a baseball! It's my first MLB ever! I never did see him come back by so that I could get him to sign it for me too but I did manage to walk up to Milo Hamilton's window after the game.


Here he is chatting on the phone while holding my ball as I wait patiently.


And here it is all signed up! I'm just as ecstatic to receive this autograph as I am to have received Lee's on the poster finally! My family and I are big fans of his and listen to him on the radio when we can't watch the game in person or on TV and mom even puts blue stars on good plays in her own score book. :)

Anyways, I know that was a lot but there you have it! Opening day is only 22 days away! I'll be seeing you there!

Spring Training '09 Countdown!

Hey guys! It's getting to be that time again! I can smell baseball in the air!

With only two days until Pitchers & Catchers and the purchasing of both my tickets to Florida for Spring Training and Opening Day for the 'Stros I'm obviously very excited! So I whipped up a quick portrait of Hunter tonight and thought I'd share.



I'll be spending a whole week doing Spring Training this year and we'll be hitting up various teams, not just the 'Stros, so expect plenty of sketches and even some photos! I'll also be taking the BLT + P poster with me in hopes that I can get Berkman and Lee to top it off and put it into retirement. Wish me luck!